[ RadSafe ] " Technology to detect radiation has progressed "

[Geo>K0FF]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <nssihou at aol.com>
To: <idias at interchange.ubc.ca>; <neildm at id.doe.gov>; <sjd at swcp.com>; 
<brent.rogers at ansto.gov.au>; <radsafe at radlab.nl>
Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2007 6:17 AM
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] " Technology to detect radiation has progressed "


>
> Most scrap yards now have radiation monitors and check metal as it enters 
> the site. Unfortunately, the radioactive material is not always seen if 
> shielded by a lot of other steel scarp. Texas has had several source? 
> melts over the last few years. Before radiation monitors, I'm sure lots of 
> radioactive incidents went undetected.
>

**(Geo) New generation equipment already being installed on limited basis, 
but has "spectrum analyzer smarts" and can communicate back to the
factory for up to the minute analysis.



>
> Texas has lots of NORM waste generation in oil field tubulars and tanks. 
> The state has set the scrap content levels of NORM that can be melted.?For 
> Tubulars and tanks with higher NORM content, the NORM scale is removed for 
> disposal at radioactive land disposal sites.?

**(Geo) Radium plating out  on the inside of petroleum pipes and tanks is a 
particular problem . Yes it is NORM, but it is concentrated by electrolysis.
>
> The bigger problem is that we have larger and larger numbers of radiation 
> monitoring devices and fewer and fewer qualified persons operating them.

**(Geo) Correct, this is part of a learning curve issue, and will be 
addressed by smarter equipment, not by better trained personnel. And so it 
goes.
Check Radsafe Archives for comment by J. Marshall Reber on this subject.
>
> Once Homeland Security gets the?interstate highway monitors in operation, 
> cops will be pulling over trucks that set off alarms. The feds are?going 
> to start finding things they didn't realize existed.

**(Geo) Maybe not. State Patrol vehicles in Illinois have been monitoring 
for a few decades now. Maybe other STATES too? would appreciate feedback on 
this.
My personal Vehicular Scintillator Alarming Ratemeter is a surplussed State 
of IL unit, I bough a bunch of them at auction a few years ago. They are 
1985 vintage.
Eberline RM-20's with 2" X 2.4" plastic scintillators ( for ruggedness). I 
use NaI(Tl)  for sensitivity. Yes I find things that I didn't know existed. 
Railroad cars with coal ( NORM), Gas and Diesel tanks in the ground ( NORM), 
but also rouge X-Ray machines and poorly stored medical supplies.
>
> And if the marketers wise up, it wont be that long before your mobile 
> phone will have an optional radiation detector available to?protect you 
> and your family.?? LOL

**(Geo) Available now all in phone with GPS. Pretty simple. Newest 
generation is 2 piece, spectrum analyzer pager, communicates to cellphone 
wirelessly ( Pollimaster- soon to hut the market).

>
> Bob Gallagher
> NSSI
> 713 641-0391


**(Geo) Experience will not reside in the operator any more, it will be in 
the equipment. Those units that can communicate back to the factory will be 
instantly updateable as the situation evolves or escalates. Part of this 
will HAVE to be a more general awareness by the public that radionuclides 
are everywhere, non threatening in most circumstances and are a most useful 
part of our modern life. Terrorism driven or not, it's about time we upped 
the awareness of environmental radiation.

George Dowell
NLNL
New London Nucleonics Lab
GEOelctronics at netscape.com